Reading, Pa. (Jan. 22, 2016) – Junior Marquis Marshall scored a career-high 27 points including a clutch bucket in the paint with under a minute to play leading Alvernia University (10-8, 6-3) to a 78-74 win over Widener University (8-10, 3-6) Friday evening in MAC Commonwealth men's basketball action at Jack McCloskey Court.
 
Marshall's jump hook with 56 seconds left put the Crusaders up 74-70 and George Sapp and Mike Miller combined to go 4-for-6 from the free throw line down the stretch to hold off the Pride.  Charles Cooper finished with 24 points and four steals and Reid Hoff pitched in with seven assists.
 
"It was a nice team win for us at home," said head coach Mike Miller after the game.  "We did what we had to do to win the game.  A league game at home and that's the main thing."
 
Alvernia and Widener played the only game of the night in the league deciding to move the schedule forward a day to avoid heavy snow in the forecast for Saturday.  The Crusaders move a half game ahead of Arcadia and Lebanon Valley in the standings in second place a game behind Lycoming.  Arcadia and Hood moved their game to Monday night, Albright and Lebanon Valley are schedule for Sunday, and Lycoming and Stevenson have yet to announced a reschedule for their game.
 
The Crusaders get to sit back and watch, and will face Lycoming on Wednesday at home.
 
The Crusaders shot the ball well in the early going—especially from deep—building an 18-7 with nine minutes gone.  Alex Shippen knocked down a 3 for a 12-5 lead then Cooper hit back-to-back 3s for the 11-point lead with 10:53 to go in the first half.
 
Cooper went back-to-back again from the arc two minutes later and the Crusaders held a 27-12 lead with 7:40 left to play in the first.
 
The lead was still 15 points, 31-16 with 3:23 to go in the half before Widener ran off an 11-2 run to close the half and hit the locker room down 33-27.  Ryan McMahon started the run with a 3 and four different players scored for the Pride on the 3-minute run.
 
The second half lead was at 10 points, 49-39 before Widener put together a 9-0 spurt to cut it to one.  The Pride took a 53-51 lead on a 3 from David Nicholson with 9:23 to play, and held 3 again at 55-52 before the Crusaders put together a 9-0 run to take the lead for good.  Cooper converted a huge 3-point play on the break that put Alvernia up 56-55 with 7:38 to go.
 
Alvernia 78, Widener 74